Master of Gnosticism

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Hello,

Welcome to a sample of lesson two of the Master of Gnosticism program. This is the last week you will receive a discourse that talks about the study of Gnosticism. You'll be getting lessons once a week for approx. 20 weeks and if you don't get one for any reason, please write to amy@ulcseminary.org and let her know so she can re-send your material.

This lesson has been copy in its original form with the email permission of Scott Mandelker

Wednesday, October 15, 2008 5:32 PM

RE: Gnostics, Yahweh, and Cosmic Mid East War

Dear Pastor Pat,

Please feel free to use my article for your church course, and if you don’t mind, please indicate the source and my website address, so people can find more information on my site if they wish.

Thanks for your request, and I wish you all peace in truth,

Scott Mandelker

Website: http://www.scottmandelker.com/

Having read widely among Gnostic texts in translation and modern New Age sources, I've come across an interesting linkage that may shed light on a few esoteric dynamics of Earth life. For specialists, it may also clarify some the origins of the Gnostic view and the debacle of the Middle East in human history. According to a rational approach to the academic study of the development of religion, the early Near Eastern Gnostic conception of an evil world-creating "Demiurge" (identified with the Old Testament Yahweh or Jehovah), is generally understood as merely an imaginative invention to help support the growth of their religion. Scholars imagine this strange reformulation of the Hebraic god to simply indicate the Gnostics' rejection of local Jewish authority.

According to this approach, whatever degree of metaphysical truth the Gnostic views might have (as a potentially accurate assessment of real cosmo-dynamics affecting Earth in real time and space), is also totally ignored. Indeed, such possibilities are not even considered by the conventional Gnostic scholars. It may be a result of their commitment to the symbolic approach to religious systems (holding a view that religious content is merely figurative), or perhaps some kind of innate recognition by these "experts" that cosmic matters are rightly beyond their ken. Yet, when the scope of our inquiry into spiritual literature is expanded to include select modern New Age sources (equally abstruse and arcane), some provocative correlations with the Gnostic cosmos can be made.

In this essay we will take a close look at the complex set of issues surrounding the Gnostic view of Yahweh, the Old Testament god of the Jews and so-called creator of the world. To this academic recounting -- using several Nag Hammadi (Egyptian source) texts, scholar Hans Jonas' classic The Gnostic Religion, and the more freewheeling Lacarriere's The Gnostics -- I will also add information from The Ra Material, a set of channeled sessions published in 1981 that also speak at length about Yahweh. Ra also explains Yahweh"s hidden relations with humanity in terms quite close to the Gnostics", and puts them in a multi-dimensional context related to what they call, the "negatively-oriented Orion Empire." In no uncertain terms, we are talking here about War in Heaven (as above, so below").

The cosmic perspective so essential to the Gnostic message and praxis finds great response in modern times -- both from renewed popular and scholarly interest in their work, as well as from some equally subjective "received information." This meeting of old and new is valuably combustible, and has strengthened (at least for me) the validity of each of the sources involved. Much can be gained from systematic comparative analysis, and at this time in human history with vast Mid East warfare looming, it is also highly relevant to personal life.

The basic Gnostic position is well explained by Hans Jonas and forms the basis of this discussion. Almost all Gnostic sects believe that the creator of the human world is not the true transcendental Deity (which they call the "Unknown [or] Alien God"), but is instead a false ruler, as our world is really the product of lesser forces. Thus, one text states:

"The world is the work of lowly powers... [and] the universe, the domain of the Archons is like a vast prison whose innermost dungeon is the earth." (Jonas, p.42-3)

The seven concentric spheres around our Earth are "the seats of the Archons who collectively rule over the world [as] warders of the cosmic prison" (ibid, p.43). More than a few Wanderers and other sensitive souls have had the same idea, in just the same terms as depicted here and in the film, Matrix. That film, by the way, is an extremely Gnostic presentation.

Names for these lesser powers reflect different old Testament synonyms for Yahweh, who is considered the Demiurgic leader of the seven planes variously named in different Gnostic systems (many of which show some degree of interchangeability). The anti-Judaic aspect of their teachings is nevertheless clear, as we find echoed in a statement from Simon Magus (a main Gnostic leader of the day). He stated that,

The Demiurge was originally sent out by the good God to create the world but [he then] established himself here as an independent deity, that is, he gave himself out to be the Most High and [now] holds captive in his creation the souls which [in truth, instead] belong to the supreme God." (p.109-10)

Thus we have an inferior creator proclaiming himself falsely, binding the souls of his inmates through deception and an elaborate multi-leveled surveillance system (sound familiar?). The motivation for maintaining such a complex system to entrap humanity is the very inferiority of the warders themselves, who actually recognize somewhat the weakness of their position.

Speaking of the specific evil of these Archons, Jonas clarifies that:

"their badness is not that of the archenemy or the eternal hater of the Light [i.e., Lucifer], but that of ignorant usurpers who, unaware of their sub-altern rank in the hierarchy of being, arrogate lordship to themselves, and in the combination of feeble means with envy and lust for power can achieve only a caricature of true divinity." (p.133)

These lesser powers cling to whatever material power they can, since deep down they realize there are higher beings above them, even allowing their treachery. Such is a common understanding in other, more modern presentations of the place of "evil" in the cosmic scheme.

And so we return to a traditional characterization of the jealous, wrathful Yahweh -- who according to Marcion (another Gnostic teacher) is so different from the Father spoken of by Jesus that he must be a false god. Marcion (the fellow who actually coined the terms "Old" and "New" Testament) was very serious about establishing clearly for all to see the nature of this radical demarcation (Lacarriere, p.100). He thus comes to the same basic Gnostic conclusion via a more Christian angle: Jesus' Father is the Unknown God, but He is quite different from the vengeful god of the Hebrews.

We are shown here a metaphysically based denunciation of the Old Testament, and the movement of small, fringe sects towards an esoteric reformulation of Christianity. This is also shown in such Gnostic tractates as The Gospel of Thomas that speak of Jesus Christ as a Gnostic adept -- which also served as the basis of their radical sectarian practices, all meant to outwit these very same Archons. To these teachers, the whole of the Old Testament was suspect, and most Gnostics saw it as an elaborate scheme reasserting Aeonic dominion over ignorant Earth humanity. Some people see fundamentalist orthodoxy of all stripes today in just the same light.

Jonas notes, "one recurring feature [of Gnosticism] is the assertion that the [Old Testament] prophecies and the Mosaic Law issued from these [deceptive] world-ruling angels, among whom the Jewish god is prominent" (p.133). Obviously, these sects were quite antagonistic towards the Hebraic hierarchy of their day. Indeed, Saturninus (yet another Gnostic sect leader) taught that the Old Testament prophecies originated from both Satan and the Archons. To the Gnostic teachers, the entire Judaic dispensation was merely a clever ploy of the arrogant world-creator and his clone-consorts.

In this view, what is promoted as, and thus is presented to willfully naïve humanity to be genuine religious teaching (serving the development of the Judaic system) is really that which maintains our ignorance and servitude. Accordingly, the Gnostic's task is to pierce the veils of the evil spheres and throw off the shackles of conventional (at that time, Hebraic) morality -- and proclaim for all to hear the falseness of the supposedly righteous orthodoxy.

No doubt, the Gnostics were considered a dangerous group to both Christians and Jews of the time, primarily because their views threatened to draw off believers from those major social groupings. Yet, it would be short sighted to consider the Gnostics merely anti-Semites or anti-Christians, since they really didn’t care for those traditions in the long run, and simply wanted to offer human souls an alternative path to self-liberation, free of the older sets of dogmatic faith.

(Part II)

When we move then to investigating The Ra Material and its ideas about Yahweh and his role in human affairs, we approach another vast system of teachings within which this topic is but a fragment. This series of five books (also called The Law of One, in which I'll draw only from the first volume) transcribes the trance-channel communications of a "social-memory complex" (a spiritually unified society) synonymous with the Egyptian Sun-God "Ra," which actually claimed to originally have been a Venusian civilization. They also claim to be one of the members of a collective "Confederation of Planets in the Service of the Infinite Creator," the main ET collective aiding humanity at this time from inner, invisible planes around Earth.

Ra says that they are of "sixth density," a vibration or dimension of oneness and awareness of the unity of all things, beyond relative good and evil, and that they possess non-physical light-bodies (a statement in line with the traditional depiction of formless realms in Buddhist-Hindu cosmology). Interestingly, they also claim to have incarnated during Egyptian times to assist that race in their spiritual work, and to promote non-dogmatic monotheism through the sympathetic ruler, Pharaoh Akhnaton. Without going into detail of the dynamics of this "channeling contact" (received knowledge from a non-physical source, through a human medium), we can still consider some of what they said about Earth history, especially in relation to the ongoing saga of polarity (the universal drama of so-called good and evil).

The picture that emerges from their statements is that of a Confederation of inter-planetary and inter-dimensional civilizations, voluntarily dedicated in mutual cooperation to help humanity in various ways -- nevertheless, having had more than a few "failures" in their attempts down through the ages. In their view, "Yahweh" is originally the name of a particular Confederation entity, a specific unified group of souls from a distant star system (and "higher dimension") with a very real history of intervention in human affairs. Ra says that this name can be translated as, "He Comes" (vol. I, p.175, 210).

When asked how the Yahweh group communicated to our peoples, Ra responds:

"This is a somewhat complex question. The first communication was what you would call genetic. The second communication was the walking among your peoples to produce further genetic changes in consciousness. The third was a series of dialogues with chosen channels" (p.173). There were thus three major interventions in human history over a period of several thousand years by this extraterrestrial group seeking to develop human spiritual potentials.

Of course, most academic Gnostic scholars (and scholars of anything else) would immediately consider this ludicrous, but there are hundreds of books all over the world elaborating upon just such ET-human interaction, and many indigenous native traditions have their own stories of "Star Nations" and ancient stellar contact. Such activity is not incompatible with what's loosely called divine intervention, so this kind of human interface with the "works of God" is not hard to conceive for those with either direct gnosis or sufficient faith.

Specifically, RA describes Yahweh's first contact of 75,000 years ago through "genetic changes" in a form similar to what you call the cloning process. Thus entities incarnated in the image of the Yahweh entities [with] one purpose only: that to express in the mind/body/spirit complex those characteristics which would lead to further and more speedy development of the spiritual complex" (p.173-4). The "spiritual complex" is a human soul's innate divine nature.

This work involved accelerated and intensified sensitization of human physical senses to sharpen experience, and the strengthening of mental faculties to promote the ability to better analyze such experience (p.174). Thus, we see here a type of Yahweh-cloning roughly comparable to the Gnostic concept of the creation of Aeonic powers -- all of whom, interestingly, possessed synonymous names in Old Testament chapters. In this case, Ra's reference is to human cloning, but the mitotic process is identical and for sure, the Gnostic cosmo-genesis retains a seed of the same concept. Cloning, it seems, is not a modern invention.

Up to this point, however, Ra depicts Yahweh as a wholly benevolent, protective-paternal agent in human affairs, but as we'll soon see, the situation changed considerably later. Again, we see foreshadowing of the Gnostic split between the Hidden (good) God and the Demiurgic (bad) lesser powers. It is easy to imagine how early humanity could mistake any type of extraterrestrial intervention for the divine agency of benevolent gods or the One Supreme God. Spiritual discernment has never been a strong point of Earth humans.

Be that as it may, the second direct Yahweh/Confederation communication in planetary history, according to Ra, occurred approximately 3,600 years ago (1600 years before the Common Era, or BCE). This was "a series of encounters in which the ones called Anak were impregnated with the new genetic coding by your physical complex means, so that the organisms would be larger and stronger." [It was] a contact of the nature you know as sexual, changing the mind/body/spirit complex through the natural means of the patterns of reproduction devised by the intelligent energy of your physical complex" (p.174, 173). In other words, it involved inter-dimensional sexual hybridization, another theme common to indigenous and religious traditions the world over.

The ET goal, laudably, was to facilitate greater human comprehension of the "Law of One," the basic sanctity of all beings and experience, the realization or gnosis of the innate perfection of self and other. However, it was considered "a decided failure because" it was a great temptation [for the genetically modified human souls] to consider the so-called social complex or sub-complex elite or different and better than other-selves, this [being] one of the techniques of service to self" (p.175). As Ra and the original Yahweh both belong to the same "Confederation," their orientation is wholly "service to others," in distinction to those ET groups (whom we'll discuss shortly) who follow "the path of separation," seeking interplanetary dominion through deception and control. This notion is also in line with the old Zoroastrian conception of universal light and shadow

So, instead of using their larger, stronger, finer bodies to more deeply experience and teach/learn the perfection of all things, these genetically improved human groups moved willfully towards the path of "service to self." They willingly ensnared themselves in patterns of elitism, subjugation of others, and relentless power-manipulation (a phenomenon we see continued among various groups in the Middle East, and globally, to this day). But beyond the activity of this somewhat understandable human leaning towards control, there were also outside agitators who aided and abetted the situation. At this point in the discussion, enter stage left what Ra calls the "Orion Federation," their primary cosmic counter-point.

Throughout The Ra Material there is extended discussion of this inter-dimensional, multi-planetary, somewhat rival alliance of other galactic civilizations, united (albeit, with constant internal strife) loosely in accord with what is considered the path of service to self -- soul evolution devoid of qualities of love and compassion. In some Buddhist-Hindu traditions, this is called "the left-hand path," the way of the Asuras or fighting, jealous, angry gods.

Their primary goal is the complete subjugation of primitive (3rd dimensional) planets and the propagation of materialism, greed, mental distortion, injustice and suffering through creation of elitist social structures. The notions of Klingons and Romulans from Star Trek, and Darth Vader and his cohorts in Star Wars, all approximate the nature and means of this local quasi-feudal hierarchy. As a whole, it is as devoted to divisiveness as Ra's Confederation is to the loving self-unification of all life. Again, we hear echoes of the Gnostic polarized cosmology .

In relation to the present discussion, Ra notes that the Orion group had a hand in fostering the same control-based patterns that Yahweh's previous Confederation service had mistakenly laid open. In one of the most telling passages of relevance to the last 3,000 years of human history, Ra notes:

"The Orion group were able to use this distortion of mind/body complex [a sense of superiority from improved genetics] to inculcate the thoughts of the elite rather than concentrations upon the learning/teaching of oneness... Wherein the [human] entities of free will had chosen a less positively oriented configuration of sum total vibratory complex, those of the Orion group were able for the first time to make serious inroads upon the consciousness of the planetary complex" (italics added, p.175).

No doubt, this depiction of the Orion group intervention is quite similar to the Archonic powers whom the Gnostics considered originators of the Hebrew religion and core social conceptions. The varied ideals of a "chosen" establishment of repressive and rigidly intolerant hierarchical priestly orthodoxy (at least at that time), and the substitution of teachings valuing power and wrath above love and self-sacrifice (Old vs. New Testament philosophies) -- all these are clear examples of service-to-self philosophy and practice.

However, this entire group ethos is considered but a distortion of the wholly positive, love-based intentions of the true Confederation group member that originally came under the name, Yahweh. What essentially befell the Hebrew group of that time, according to Ra, is a case of mistaken identity -- wholly comparable to naïve humanity's attachment to a false god over the true, invisible Godhead.

Nevertheless, Orion is said to have heavily distorted many aspects of current, normative Hebrew religion. When asked about the origin of the Ten Commandments, Ra stated: "The origin of these commandments follows the law of negative entities impressing information upon positively oriented mind/body/spirit complexes [here, impressed upon Moses, whom Ra considered an extremely benevolent soul]. The information attempted to copy or ape positivity while retaining negative characteristics" (p.152).

Ra identified the source of the distorted aspects of the Ten Commandments as Orion, who found in Moses a "recipient" of extreme positivity, thus accounting for some of the pseudo-positive characteristics of the information received." However, they were able to twist his earlier, pure reception of spiritual truth (again, from the original Yahweh), "due to his people's pressure to do specific physical things in the third-density planes. This left the entity [Moses] open for the type of information and philosophy of a self-service nature" (italics added, p.152).

Interestingly, this shows us how a simple message of loving unity, dignity and respect for others became distorted by that group's insistent need to do something physical in the human world (i.e., in "third-density," the plane of physical humanity). It is not that Ra here recommends killing, stealing, lying, and all other prohibited actions of the Commandments, of course. Their point is simply that when humans demand their leader to tell them what to do and what not to do, then the doors to negative control and deception are opened. Tyrants, dictators and fascists are always supported atop the voluntary abnegation of self-responsibility of the peoples they rule. Thus, Ra states that the Orion group came to the early Hebrews in the guise of the original Confederation entity, Yahweh, becoming, in effect, a "false-Yahweh" -- in a manner curiously similar to just what the Gnostics claimed.

In terms of true sanctity and appreciation of universal love, it is merely a slight shift of consciousness that is needed to realize the Law of One (the innate perfection of all life). The path of action leading to such enlightenment cannot be encoded in rule and dogma, and can only follow from the self-achieved spiritualization of the human mind complex, in freedom and self-willed personal decision. This is, in fact, just what the early Gnostics taught when they avoided rule-bound ethical codes. They believed the fully awakened pneumatic (a human soul in union with universal pneuma, or spirit) could act freely in any way he or she decided, since their mind and spirit were already illumined by immanent spiritual truth.

Again, anti-social license is neither the point nor the goal; in fact, most world mystics and more than a few Gnostic groups lived strict ascetic lives. Rather, both Ra and the Gnostic teachers are pointing to the fact that spiritual enlightenment and the full development of human capacity can only proceed from true personal freedom in balance, not slavish submission to rigid dogma. This was their main bone of contention against the Judeo-Christian orthodoxy of their day.

Importantly, following this narrative about Orion contribution to the Ten Commandments Ra also noted that, "this [time period] was an intensive, shall we say, battleground between positively oriented forces of Confederation origin and negatively oriented sources" (p.152). We will return later to this point when we consider Yahweh's third contact with humanity: the dispensation of positive information through human channels. Personally, I believe the roots of the current Mid East conflict can be found in just this particular Orion, negative ET contact. In my opinion, the ancient Gnostics knew enough about it to focus their attention on the issue of Yahweh as a pivotal warning to the future fate of humanity.

What emerges from all this is a modern esoteric (cosmo-dynamic) confirmation of the old Gnostic position against the Judaic dispensation of Yahweh and the Mosaic Code. Ra's view supports their claim that these indeed did come from sources hostile and essentially inimical to humanity's spiritual evolution. The purpose of such restrictive, controlling dogma was to inhibit the growth of human love and freedom -- though I doubt the negative ET groups are actually "ignorant of their subaltern rank in the hierarchy of being," as some Gnostic texts state. At the higher levels, they too know of forces above them.

Ra notes that an entity truly aware of the Law of One would never command, "Thou shalt not" to another (p.152-3), which perfectly supports Gnostic antinomianism and their contention that the moral strictures of their day were invented to actually prevent human divination, and are of corrupt origin. Early Gnostics considered the entire Judeo-Christian church-state pyramid structure as a distorted creation of "false gods" -- arrogant, jealous, and highly vengeful in themselves. Likewise, Ra states that, "the purpose of the Orion group as mentioned before, is conquest and enslavement. This is done by finding and establishing an elite and causing others to serve the elite through various devices such as the [Mosaic] laws you mentioned and others given by this entity [Moses]" (p.152). An early Gnostic would simply say, "yes."

Indeed, the whole theme of reversal -- the opposite between appearance and reality in human religious systems, born of Archonic duplicity -- is central to Gnostic cosmology, eschatology, and their iconoclastic notions of Yahweh. It runs through all aspects of Gnostic teaching beginning with their Genesis story in the Garden of Eden. The Apocryphon of John tells us how the first Archon (also called Ilaldabaoth or Yahweh) placed Adam (also created by the Archons) in paradise simply in order to deceive him. This text tells how he was directed towards a counterfeit spirit and tree of life to prevent him from discovering his own perfection. Their idea is that even the Garden of Eden was a trick, a false front thrown up to prevent the original seed-man from realizing his true divine nature. The primal deception was rooted in the tempting lure of external objects.

Thus, what Adam called delight (Eden) was really "bitter" and all sorts of trickery then followed, aiming to keep him and his descendants from knowing their innate self-perfection, the gnosis of cosmic self-revelation within which all illusions are dispelled. Interestingly, all three Near East religions, Judaism-Islam-Christianity (at least in their exoteric aspect) also consider the dictum that, "I am God" to be the great heresy. The yawning gap between Man and God is considered inviolable, while in the Hindu tradition (echoed in more nuanced way by the clever Buddhists) this idea is considered a sign of the summit of self-realization. Thus Western culture is known for its control over the environment, while traditional Eastern spirituality aims to work upon the inner.

In Gnostic texts, what ordinary people call "life" is spoken of as sleep, drunken stupor, already a realm of the dead, and cleverly cut off from the Great Life that is home to our true spiritual spark. Shadows of the film, Matrix can be seen here as well, and no doubt its writers were familiar with the Gnostic view of most humans as thickly dulled to the real.

The key to this whole Archonic scheme of human imprisonment is the maintenance of our forgetting true Life, divine human origin, nature and destiny. All works of the lesser powers are bent toward prevention of this awakening -- while all the efforts of true Gnostics (past, present and future) are directed toward self-unveiling. Thus today we see all around us the struggles between those who seek love and those who control. Fundamentalists of all grades are in a dogged rear-guard fight the world over, seeking retrenchment of the lines of social control.

Gnostic opposition to the elitism of both Judaic and Christian ecclesiasticism is well argued, both politically and metaphysically. Regardless of whether or not the creators of our planetary matrix were evil (which Ra does not support), then at least the maintenance of contemporary institutions appeared to them of evil provenance. Any form of elitism engenders divisiveness and patterns of superiority, which Ra deems "a distorted perception of oneness with other-selves" (p.175). Thus, Epiphanes challenged established dogma in support of Gnostic metaphysics when he boldly wrote, "the most absurd of all earthly laws is the one that has the temerity to say: 'Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's wife,' for it repudiates community and deliberately chooses separation" (Lacarriere, p.71). Such teaching is way too anarchic (un-Archonic?) for most moderns, let alone fundamentalists to handle.

Yes, his statement actually repudiates Orion elitism, supported by rigid commandments and the legalistic-punitive enforcement structure to which they gave birth (all in evidence today). It is also clear rejection of the separateness fostered by a philosophy of social stratification, law, regulation, and the autocracy of a chosen few (the rulers who write the rules). The aim of Gnostic ritual sexual license (widely and fervently condemned by Christian leaders of the day) was actually to thwart entrenched Archonic designs, already encoded in human law. Namely, they believed the legalistic monogamy of their day (not much changed in ours) merely fostered isolation of the spiritual sparks on Earth. Even today, "free love" is given a bad name.

The Gnostics believed that elitism and strict morality (i.e., structures of Judeo-Christian dogma) fostered separation and suppressed love, and their practices were meant to counter this negative tendency. The egalitarianism, communal ownership of property and marriage partners, and lack of strict rules in Gnostic communities all embodied their conscious opposition to service-to-self trends wherever they might be found. Indeed, they were radical (from the Latin word radix, meaning, "root") and proud of it.

Perhaps somewhat naïvely, they felt religion ought to bring humanity together, not create division. Clearly, this has not been the history of human religions, so perhaps they did know something their contemporaries were missing. Whether Gnostics had knowledge of an ET Orion Empire is unclear, but they certainly acted and taught in the line of direct opposition to their developing "serious inroads" into collective human mores.

In my view, the initial dispensation of elitist philosophy 3,600 years ago set the stage for centuries of ongoing Mid East conflict (and later, global conflict), as volatile now as ever. Essentially, the crowning achievement of the negative-god inroads, according to Ra, "allowed the Orion group to form the concept of the holy war as you may call it. This is a seriously distorted perception. There were many of these wars of a destructive nature" (italics added, p.175). Holy war, it seems, is still all the rage in the human family.

The major planetary distortion of so-called holy war (affirming the potential sanctity of inter-group violence, which of course all warring groups claim for themselves) truly "apes positivity" -- and was unfortunately accepted by ethnic groups the world over (no need to name names). Thus, according to Ra, the first jihad was inspired by negative ET sources capitalizing on the advantage of physical prowess possessed by certain genetically improved human groups. Since the time of Moses' mistaken contact with the "false Yahweh" (substituting itself for the original, benevolent Yahweh Confederation group), almost every organized religion has taken the bait, to the detriment of humanity, despite knowing better.

Traditional Gnostic conceptions of Yahweh may be relatively accurate assessments of evil false-god tendencies meant to thwart human evolution -- in accord with Ra. Although I don't agree with their exclusive focus on Judeo-Christian culpability, the overall Gnostic cosmology does strike a chord. How many pure souls here have never wondered about deceptive, non-physical groups interfering with human life, presenting themselves as divinity yet acting in the way of dominion? The notion of War in Heaven is very old indeed.

There is yet a further chapter to the Orion-Yahweh story. As the Orion group (around 1600 BCE), "found fertile soil in which to plant the seeds of negativity among the same peoples [originally aided by Yahweh 75,000 years ago] who had come gradually to dwell in the vicinity of Egypt", according to Ra, they made a major coup. They actually usurped use of the very name "Yahweh" -- arrogating to themselves all good works of earlier Jewish traditions -- thus luring the Hebrews to a sense of inspirational continuity (albeit falsely). "The [real and now replaced] one known as Yahweh felt a great responsibility to these entities [the Hebrews whom they helped 75,000 years before]. However, the Orion group had been able to impress upon the[se] peoples the name 'Yahweh' as the one responsible for this elitism" (p.210) -- and as no one suspected the new source of information, the old Yahweh was sidelined.

And so (again, according to Ra), the Hebrews continued to worship Yahweh as the Creator-God, not realizing they were in fact now worshipping the Orion group! -- a group committed to human degradation and the institution of total domination over them. To many observers, the continued practice of animal sacrifice, priestly moral dogmatism and hierarchy, and the severe code of rules, regulations and punishments (many still followed by the ultra-orthodox today) were all quite inconsistent with the dictates of a true, loving God. According to this view, such activity merely supported latent Orion hegemony over their misguided followers, exercised through information-projection (so-called revelation) coming from inner (non-physical) planes surrounding the human realm.

Gnostic criticism of Yahweh as a false, jealous god are perfectly consistent with Ra's account of the Orion name-change/usurpation which turned Judaic religious fervor (originally directed towards worship of true divinity) towards the way of self-service and elitist domination of surrounding, heterogeneous groups. Thus, the name "Yahweh" as used in the Old Testament (to the extent it refers to a negative ET source) is indeed a false god, and rightly shouldn't be considered the creator of our world. Those seeking adulation, both human and non-human, tend to always set themselves up to be feared and obeyed.

In accordance with Gnostic views, such a false-Yahweh was but a conglomeration of controlling forces hostile to humanity and to the expression of loving divinity in general. This personification is roughly comparable to the portrayal of the Archons ontologically (as powers and principalities of "darkness") if not cosmologically (acting as warders to established human mind-imprisonment in the 3rd dimensional matrix). Personally, I think the discussion here is far more serious than quaint historico-religious metaphor, which is how academic scholars would normally see it.

Gnostic opinions of Yahweh as the creator of unfortunate, pain-ridden Earth are not, however, confirmed by Ra (whose opinion I share) -- but, again, their sense of the newly established false-Yahweh as an inferior spiritual entity of evil mien is fully supported by Ra's history. The basic Gnostic condemnation of Jewish temple practice and ritual (criticized by Jesus as well) is also backed up by Ra's account. How interesting it is that this channeled source of so-called "New Age" literature produced from 1981-84 sheds such light on documents nearly 2000 years old.

There is a curious passage in the Gospel of Philip that seems to suggest some Gnostics did know of the Yahweh name-change, and perhaps the negative-ET Orion contingent as well. It is a veiled passage to be sure, but is quite provocative in light of what Ra's statements as the metaphysical fit is nearly perfect (bracketed comments added):

"The powers wanted to deceive man, since they saw that he had a kinship with those that are truly good [the original, benevolent-ET Yahweh group]. They took the name of those that are good and gave it to those that are not good [the later, Orion false-Yahweh], so that through the names they might deceive him and bind them to those that are not good... These things they knew, for they wanted to take the free man and make him a slave to them forever" (Robinson, p.133

The original "kinship" was with the true Confederation entity Yahweh (the "truly good"); its name was then given to the Orion crusaders ("those that are not good"); through this means the Jewish people were fooled and bound to negatively oriented impressing spiritual forces, whose goal was (and remains) perpetual human conflict. If so, it seems Orion has been quite effective in the three millennia since first interception of Judaic divine access -- to the detriment of the Jewish race, evidenced by their ceaseless persecution, as well as all those around them. Whatever the nature of so-called Yahweh, the history of the peoples under his tutelage doesn't reflect too well on the nature of that entity itself.

And the goal of all this? Not necessarily Jewish domination of the world at all, to the contrary of a common strain of conspiracy theory. The ultimate goal is the establishment of Orion elite puppet-groups all around the world to aid the Orion group's spiritual conquest of Earth ("to make him a slave to them forever"), regardless of race, creed or ethnicity, abetted by the operative "holy war" principle of righteous domination. The issue of human subjugation (by other humans, sponsored from above) is far deeper than merely standard anti-Jewish conspiracy, though according to Ra's view, the ancient Hebrews did represent a leading edge by which inroads were made into human collective thought, unbeknownst to them.

All these ideas are supported by the passage from the Gospel of Philip, which leads me to believe at least some Gnostic teachers knew the inner story about the Hebrews, related to Old Testament origins of this particular version of "Yahweh, the wrathful god." That they added elaborate Persian-Kabalistic cosmologies and also had a political stake in criticizing religious orthodoxy, doesn't really weaken their case. We can assume some Gnostics did know about the esoteric cosmo-dynamic intentions bound up with the post-Mosaic Jewish dispensation, and rightly set themselves against and outside it.

They may well have veiled their teachings for their own protection, yet left scattered seeds of truth to convey an essential message to the few initiates who might be present. This is a very common esoteric means of hiding truth from those "without eyes to see," and many esoteric students see just such veiling in certain statements made by Jesus, as well.

As for the original, benevolent Yahweh group's final communication to humanity subsequent to the Orion duplicity, Ra said the following: "the old Yahweh, now unnamed, but meaning "He comes", began to send positively oriented philosophy. This was approximately, in your past, of 3,300 years. Thus, the intense portion of what has become known as Armageddon was joined" (p.210). The Mid East has since then been in near-constant strife, conditioned by the seeds of conflict sown there over three millennia ago. No surprise today all eyes are focused on ancient Mesopotamia (Iraq), the Persian Gulf, and the state of Israel, as trigger points primed to explode the final world war in this cycle of human history.

It is not far fetched to see in this drama the hidden hand of powers of darkness above, and even current Judeo-Christian thinkers often conceive of modern times as "end-times" in similar terms, though without specific focus on Yahweh and negative-ET agents. Such definition of Armageddon -- the "battleground" of positive and negative forces impressing humanity with thoughts of freedom/justice, versus those promoting elitism/strife -- is in accord with the old phrase "War in Heaven" and the axiom, "as above -- so below."

The centrality of the Mid East in global history (as humanity's primal, and perhaps final place of reckoning), is no accident at all, and stems from definite causes and local conditions of regional groups. Perhaps some of the ancient Gnostics knew how important their particular part of the world really was for human destiny -- the navel of the world, the axis upon which young humanity would choose its cosmic orientation.

(Conclusion)

Material about Confederation attempts to serve humanity, and the depiction of subsequent Orion-group distortions leaves us many things to ponder. Did Gnostics really know of the cosmo-dynamics of the Hebrew dispensation in line with Ra's teaching? Was there a true esoteric basis to their Our comparative analysis of Gnostic conceptions of Yahweh, data from The Ra condemnation of Old Testament lore and Judaic orthodoxy, beyond petty inter-group rivalry? Did some Gnostic teachers have far greater comprehension of human-ET relations than the fanciful mythologies of some texts would lead us to believe? Some of these curious texts were likely veiled documents in their entirety, coded messages to adepts and Gnostic initiates.

Personally, I tend to think the Gnostics knew quite a bit about universal order, and simply used religious terms common to their age to both express some things, and veil yet others. What I think we see in their texts is a composite of various elements: imaginative mythology, veiled esoteric symbolism, anti-Judeo/Christian polemics -- and here and there, precise statements about the hidden side of human history and our relations with non-human, inter-dimensional groups. I certainly don't pretend to understand all that they meant.

However, what is certainly clear for all to see is that inter-group warfare has raged globally for the past 3,000 years, and the Mid East is no less violent today than ever. Given the advance of technology, the Mid East is actually more violent today (a by-product of so-called Western civilization), and is now the primary flash point of mass destruction. I have no doubt battles have been waged for millennia to influence human thought and behavior, with the hidden hand of positive and negative ET groups both working upon humanity in accord with their own divergent aims.

It may be a long while before we get the full story on the Gnostics, and just how much they understood trans-planetary relations. It is often hard to sort out what part of any spiritual teaching represents true esoteric realization, versus that which is garbled distortion of immature minds. Occult fact often abuts mythic symbol and childish hyperbole, but it does push us toward a useful exercise of discernment. As always, however, only few souls here have eyes to see.

But for those with sharpened vision, the Gnostic perspective offers great insight into the roots of Judeo-Christian teaching, not only as a critique of orthodoxy, but also in their veiled statements about Jesus, cosmic Christ and the adept path. As the collective human gaze fixes once again on the Middle East, it is a fitting time to reexamine the Gnostic system as one of the main roots of Western mysticism. That a claimed ET group could echo many of their teachings by telepathic contact 2000 years down the road is certainly to their credit. If we truly turn our eyes toward a greater cosmic view of conditioned human life, then the Gnostic wish is fulfilled.

SOURCES

Elkins, Don; Rueckert, Carla; McCarty, James Allen, The Ra Material.

Norfolk: The Donning Company, 1984.

Jonas, Hans, The Gnostic Religion. Boston: Beacon Press, 1958.

Lacarriere, Jacques, The Gnostics. San Francisco: City Lights Books, 1989.